Spooky Paranormal Investigator Game Concept

I ran across SquirrelGirlDGT’s Diner 88 videos on twitter recently and, with it being the spookier end of the year, it’d sparked an idea for a game concept that I thought might be worth sharing.

Premise
You are a solo paranormal investigator (gender decided by the player) who’s had a history of poor luck and unconvincing findings. Shaky footage of patio doors opening by themselves in a strong breeze, recordings of vaguelly voice-like static noise, that kinda schtick. But this time you’ve caught wind of a rumour, and you think there might be a chance you’re onto The Big One.

A number of incidents, rumours of missing people, mysterious noises, weird sightings etc. have been traced back to a small town near to where you live. More specifically, the incidents all seem to involve one particular place just outside the town. A recently abandoned food processing plant a couple of miles out of the town centre.

Ever the recklessly intrepid explorer, you gear up and head out in the dead of night, cam-corder in one hand, spirit box in the other.

The Game Itself
The old factory is actually haunted this time, go figure.

Your objective would be to locate and record as many anomalies as you can, racking up points as you go. The spookier and more believable, the better. However, since the factory handled food day-in day out before its closure, certain encounters are liable to lead to supernatural shenangians such as sudden stuffings or rapid weight gain if mishandled.

You’re free to take what evidence you have and run at any point, so long as you can safely reach your car parked just outside the factory. But the deeper you dive, the stronger the hauntings become, and the better the recordings you could get.

Some presences would be passive, only responding to direct attempts to interact with them, but as you make it further into the factory’s despths, some might be more active, either patrolling their turf, or directly pursuing the player, with harsher ramifications for being captured such as a bad end. (I know it’s considered poor form to have bad ends that involve material people want to see, but by cutting the story short I’d argue it could still kinda function like a punishment)

The deepest recesses would be home to the most menacing of spirits, something along the lines the Aunt Gwen entity in the Diner 88 videos. A relentless, potentially actually genuinely scary, super-fat-ural (sorry) presence which could be the behind all the disappearances.

The player’s weight would be a part of the game’s function ideally. Some options like hiding spots would only be available to the slim waisted PI you start as, but others, such as pressure plates and tightly wedged doors would be better handled by someone with a little more… heft. There would be an upper limit however, where any further gains would make you immobile, leading to a game over, with the higher levels of weight making navigating more of a challenge.

Fetish Content
The player weight system might risk putting the desires of players and the game itself at odds. But, I think the option for the player to cut their losses and run - or waddle - might stop small mistakes from being a total run-killer, while still rewarding skillful play by allowing the player to uncover more mysteries and experience more challenging content.

That’s the concept, or the gist of it at least. I feel like the haunted facility element could make for some interesting scenarios, what with horror-themed WG being an interesting if underrepresented niche - at least in my experience.

Sorry for the textdump, just wanted to get the idea out there to see what other people made of it.

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Well, I’m certainly interested :eyes:

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I’m already busy with finishing off another project at the moment, and I don’t want to overcommit or anything, but I’d by lying if I said I wasn’t at least considering making myself.

maybe you could make the prospect of cutting your losses more interesting by implementing a capacity system where you can fit more in you and thus have more HP if you cut your losses, also giving the player bigger models/sprites/art the higher they increase their capacity to have it be appealing on both a gameplay and fetish perspective

2 Likes

I love the idea of this premise so far, especially since it’s inclusive to people who like either a female or male character. And the story and gameplay so neat too, I like the thought that if you want to get the good paranormal activity stuff, you may have to sacrifice some slimness to progress.

Sounds like an awesome idea just from the concept alone.

2 Likes

I like the sound of that.

It’d make escaping feel like less of a surrender and more like a tactical retreat, meaning more players would actually engage with the mechanic. Maybe have you retreat to the local town/ a base camp and have some downtime to decompress, kinda like the starting village in Lipomancer’s Ruins?

Having HP ramp up each time you retreat would be a decent form of adaptive difficulty. It’d make sense in context. Plus, that way less skillful players would still see the later content eventually, but more capable ones would still be rewarded by having them reach it sooner.

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and that downtime is when you get to read the entries on the pics u took and the notes you picked up so you can actually get a feel for the lore instead of just being a fetch quest, and also lets you check yourself out in the mirror afterwards.

tbh my favorite types of fetish games are the ones you can still have fun with even if you arent feeling it atm (that’s why SB was so awesome, Nerds is genuinely so funny)

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Okay I want this i’m willing to pay cash for that game

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